Bio: Lambert, Byron J. (Commemorative Bio - 1895)

Poster: Crystal Wendt

Byron J. Lambert

Byron J. Lambert Success comes not alone by taking advantage of surrounding opportunities, but from creating them. Garfield Says: “We must not wait for things to turn up; we must turn them up.” With this view of life acting as a motive power, Mr. Lambert has steadily and persistently worked his way upward, attaining the gold of his hopes. He is now one of the most prominent business men of Merrill, Lincoln County.

Our subject is a native of Wisconsin, born in Markesan, Green Lake County, November 15, 1857, and is a son of Charles D. Lambert, whose birth occurred in England on March 23, 1829. The father has two brothers living – Robert, who still makes his home in England; and Henry, a resident of Painted Post, N. Y. When Charles was but seven years old his parents died, and he was bound out to a farmer of England, who soon afterward came to America and located in the State of New York. He remained with that gentleman several years, and then followed the lake for a time, after which he came to Kenosha, Wis., but still later removed to Markesan. In the latter city the father was married, in 1853, to Miss Maria A. Crown, who were the parents of nine children: Moses, Auldin, Orea, Frank, Martha, Harriet, Hannah, Cynthia and Maria. Her parents, who were also natives of the Green Mountain State, where the father engaged in farming, came to Wisconsin, locating in Marquette County. There the mother died in 1880, and the father passed away three years later. To Mr. and Mrs. Lambert were born nine children: Charles, Brion, Louis, Frank, John, Archibald, Albert, Melissa and Frances. During the Civil War the father served in the army as a mechanic, being located at Nashville, Tenn. After his return home he began the furniture business in Markesan, Wis., which he still continues. He has been variously employed since coming to America, working for a time at both the carpenter’s and butcher’s trades, and has also conducted a hotel.

In the common schools of Wisconsin Byron J. Lambert received his early education. At the age of seventeen he began assisting his father in the furniture burins, and he remained at home until he had reached the age of twenty-two. He then went to Waupun, Wis., where he was employed as bookkeeper by Hopkins & Jennings, pump and windmill manufacturers, and for a while traveled for the same company.  In December, 1880, he arrived in Merrill, and clerked in the “Merrill House” for one year, at the end of which time he entered the employ of P. B. Champagne as bookkeeper in his store and lumber business, serving in that capacity from 1881 to 1886. In the latter year, however, he bought an interest in the store, and the firm name became B. J. Lambert & Co. here he carried on general merchandising until 1890, when he sold out. In 1885 he was made secretary and treasurer of the P. B. Champagne Lumber Company, which offices he held until the company was re-organized in 1888. On the death of Mr. Champagne, in July, 1890, Mr. Lambert was appointed executor of his will, and re-elected treasurer of the Champagne Lumber Company. This office he continued to hold until January 1, 1894, when he resigned and has since lived retired, though he still a stockholder of the company and also the National Bank of Merrill.

On September 8, 1892, Mr. Lambert was united in marriage with Miss Emma Strickland, daughter of George and Helen Strickland. Politically our subject has always cast his vote with the Democratic Party, but has no desire for office, preferring to give his undivided attention to his personal interests. With the Masonic fraternity he holds high membership, having attained the Thirty-second degree, and for two years he served as master of Merrill Lodge.

---Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin Counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade and Shawano. publ. 1895 by J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago 1110 pages, illustrated; Page 403-404